Packing!

We leave in 15 hours! I can't believe it! I'm up late (well, late to the average human, but normal time for me) trying to finish packing. It is quite the stressful task! How do you fit a month's worth of stuff into one backpack?! And it has to be light enough that you are willing to carry it. Not too easy for your average over-packer girl. I'm pretty proud that I've reduced it all down to fit into that red bag!

That's the backpack I (think I) plan on using, a bag of random things (sun screen, first aid, poncho, etc.), and a bag with a sheet, pillowcase, and a towel inside.
That blue bag has almost every piece of clothing I'll use (except for what I'm wearing on the plane and the extra change of clothes I put in my carry on), the black bag has a jacket, cardigan, and a pashmina within, the little black mesh back is full of various electronics, and the small ziploc is full of any meds I think I could possibly need

Shoes, toiletries bag, blow dryer, straightener (I know I probably shouldn't bring it...but hey, it fits), then that orange bag is my carry on

This is all of it (including what I'm wearing on the plane). It was the moment of truth to see if it all fit.

And success!

My dad and I walked around the block earlier today with my backpack on to test it out and it wasn't bad at all! (I probably just jinxed myself for the trip). I still had a few things to add after the walk, but hopefully it won't make much of a difference. I'm currently trying to decide whether or not I should use the red bag shown, or a different bag that's a little bit bigger, so my stuff isn't as snug inside. I like the red bag though, so I'm not sure. I'm going to try them both out around the block tomorrow, so we'll see which one is more comfortable and then I'll choose.

These past couple days have been quite hectic! I've been running around trying to finish up everything on my list, so hopefully it all pays off. My room has been a disaster with trying to pack, living out of suitcases from school, and loads of clean laundry on my floor that needed to be put away (because I never did laundry at school). I finally had to stop packing and clean my room because I couldn't find anything! A lot of it just got moved into Alex's room...sorry Al.

Gotta get some rest! BIG DAY tomorrow - I can't believe it.

Love,
Chelsea

P.S. Hi Casey :)

Getting Ready to Go

Me and my good friend Stephanie are about to embark on an amazing opportunity! We are going to backpack Europe from May 28th to July 1st, meaning we leave this Thursday, in just 4 days! We are so unbelievably excited and blessed to be able to have this opportunity! I am going to try to make updates here so that you all can see what we're up to! We don't know the internet situation in all of the places that we're going, but from what we've read, it seems to be easy to access.

We decided to travel by the Eurail and to stay in hostels along the way. Right now Stephanie and I are in the final stages of planning - packing, hostel reservations, train reservations, etc. We are so ready to stop planning and to start this adventure! We'd really love your prayers and thoughts as we are abroad! We are aware of the risks of it being just two girls, but we weren't going to let that stop us from taking this trip. And no, neither of us have seen the movie "Taken" and we don't plan to before we leave - why scare ourselves?

Stephanie and I have made about a million different layouts of our itinerary, but we've finally nailed one - we think. Here's a rough layout for y'all:

5/28 - Depart DFW and head to Paris
5/29 - 5/31 - Paris. France
6/1 - 6/2 - Madrid, Spain
6/3 - 6/5 - Barcelona, Spain
6/6 - 6/7 - Interlaken, Switzerland
6/8 - 6/9 - Venice, Italy
6/10 - 6/15 - Greece (Athens, Mykonos, other islands & places)
6/16 - 6/19 - Rome, Italy
6/20 - 6/21 - Florence, Italy
6/22 - 6/23 - Munich, Germany
6/24 - 6/26 - Prague, Czech Republic
6/27 - Berlin, Germany
6/28 - 6/29 - Brussels, Belgium
6/30 - 7/1 - Paris and fly back to DFW

Hopefully I'll be able to update often! Also, we would LOVE any of your suggestions of places to see while we're in these cities! We're approaching this trip with very open minds, so suggestions would be awesome!

We want to throw out a special thank you to Tracy and Michael for encouraging us to take this trip in the first place - your suggestion is about to change our lives forever! We love y'all and can't wait to tell you all about it in person once we get back!